William CODDINGTON ²⁴⁶

  General Notes:

"He went to San Francisco and amassed a fortune. Was for a time a partner of John W. McKay." His business apparently was a series of stores that sold goods especially to miners. He had branch stores in the mountains, which were re-supplied by mule trains guarded by varying numbers of armed men (cf. letters).

"Some years previous to the purchase of the Waswhington Company's new engine an engine Company composed of Dr. Benjamin Brandreth, William Coddington, and a number of the more wealthy citizens of the place had been formed but it soon passed out of existence. Officially, the Company was known as No. 4, but their common designation was "The Silk Stockings" from the belief that they had organized chiefly to secure the exemptions from various public duties which were granted to firemen. The silk stocking engine house was located on Spring St., almost opposite the Methodist Church and adjoining the grounds of the Mt. Pleasant Academy." [Sing Sing, NY]
Tombstone reads "William Coddington, Died at San Francisco Cal. on the 4th of Jan. 1874, Aged 62 years. "He lived for others."

The 1860 census lists in his household Sarah Bowles, age 35, born England, and Josephine 6, Henry 4, and Ernest 1, all born California.
In a letter to his sister Eliza (27 Aug 1863) he wrote that he was still single, that that year had lost thirty thousand dollars in bad debts and mineral stakes, and that his business was much troubled by Indians.
In a letter to his brother David Cook Coddington (17 Mar 1870) he spoke of a bill before Congress to pay the past indebtedness of the Indian Department in California, and desired his brother to be sure the bank in Sing Sing forwarded his vouchers for $1014.40 with the others they held [apparently totaling about $6,000] to Washington to be paid. He desired the proceeds to be invested in U. S. 5/20 bonds in even thousand dollar bonds. He was about to leave for the mountains for two to three months to attend to his own business and also that of two deceased partners, W. E. Burt, and Mr. Whelan, who ran branches of his stores in the mountains. ^{246,1786,1787,1788,1789}

  Noted events in his life were:

• He appeared on the census in 1820 in New York, New York Co., New York, USA. ¹¹²⁴ Males: 1 <10 (William), 1 10-16 (David Cook), 1 26-45 (Millard). Females: 3 < 10(Sarah Ann?, Lydia, Eliza), 1 10-16 (Mary), 1 16-25 (Margaret), 1 26-45 (Phebe). In manufacturing, 1.

• He moved on 1849 to , , California, USA. ¹¹²⁹ on vessel Samoset, 734 tons, 100 days on voyage.

• Fact: Newspaper article, 1 Jun 1859, Angels Camp, Calaveras Co., California, USA. ¹⁷⁹⁰ "A difficulty occurred recently at Angel's, between Wm. Coddington, Supt. of the Union Co.'s Ditch, also a large owner, and two men named Sawyer, father and son. The Sawyers had a reservoir in the gulch, and the Union Co. sell [sic] water to miners, which runs down the gulch below the reservoir. The water running together is the cause of the difficulty. The Sawyers and Coddington met at the gulch, and after high words the younger Sawyer struck Coddington with a shovel, which glanced down the left side of his face, and turning in Sawyer's hand, inflicted a dangerous wound in the stomach, exposing the intestines."

• He appeared on the census on 25 Jul 1860 in Union, Humboldt Co., California, USA. ¹⁷⁸⁶ Realty $2000; personalty $80,000.

• Fact: mentioned in will of Sarah Coddington, 27 Jun 1871, Newark, Essex Co., New Jersey, USA. ¹¹²⁹ Mentions sister Lydia Coddington, children of sister Eliza H. Stinson, sister Margaret Oblenus and her husband William Oblenus, sister Mary Warner and Thomas V. W. Warner, her husband, and their children. Brother William Coddington and friend Charles H. Warner, execs.